The present study is designed to introduce the previously untranslated middle length Mahayana sutra Aryasatyakaparivarta, an early Mahayana work, which was widely cited by many ancient Indian and Tibetan authors, Satyavadin, a non-Buddhist teacher, is the bodhisattva and main hero of the sutra who expounds the Buddhist teachings.
The text of the sutra deals with all the major Buddhist subjects on both conventional and ultimate truths as well as integrating these teachings with advice on state policy. The sutra describes the stages of practice of the path to enlightenment, starting with the ten virtuous and non-virtuous actions and their results, upward to the universal compassion of the bodhisattvas and the Buddha, and includes the six perfections, the skillful means of the bodhisattvas and the Tathagata, the Buddha vehicle as the ultimate vehicle, the Buddha body adorned with the thirty-two auspicious characteristics and eighty distinctive marks, the thirty-two compassions of the Tathagata, the thirty-seven wings of enlightenment, the four confidences of the Buddha, and ultimate truth as an inexpressible reality.
Satyavadin gives extensive advice on state policy to the king and discusses the flaws and virtues of some of his contemporaries. At the sutra's conclusion the Buddha prophesies Satyavadin's future perfectly full enlightenment.
The introduction deals with plausible evidence to date this sutra prior to other well-known Mahayana sutras. It also discusses the meaning of nirgantha in analyzing Satyavadin's non-Buddhist guise, and contrasts Satyavadin's advice on state policy, in particular on punishments and war, with other ancient Indian non-Buddhist and Buddhist scriptures.
Furthermore, it describes the use and expansion of Satyavadin's ideas by later Indian and Tibetan authors.
The appendices explain the sutra's teachings on karma, the thought of enlightenment, the meaning of prajnaparamita, and other topics based on later Indian and Tibetan sources.
